Until I Found You
by SilverDawn2010
Summary: A before and after fic. Different characters tell their significant other how they changed their life for the better. To contain: Silvaze, Knouge, Shadikal, Taiream, and SonAmy.
1. Silver

**Hey guys, welcome to my new project! This story is going to be unlike anything I've ever written, in the sense that it won't really have a linear plot... it'll be more like a series of drabbles, in first person, each character telling their boyfriend/girlfriend how they changed their life. Some of the stuff is going to be a little uncanon (how they first met and stuff...I"m gonna create a story... what, isn't that what this site is for...?), but I'll keep it as in character as possible. I'll start out with Silver and Blaze, doing a separate chapter on each of their thoughts, then move onto my other favorite couples: KnucklesxRouge, ShadowxTikal, TailsxCream, and ending with my favorite, SonicxAmy, to give me some sort of motivation and encouragement to finish this thing... Enjoy. **

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><p><strong><span>Until I Found You<span>  
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**Chapter 1: Silver**

Life before you... although short, it's not really a happy memory; I try not to think about it. I really wasn't anyone special... besides the fact that I'm a silver hedgehog with telekinesis powers. Okay, so I was a bit of a freak. But still, I tried to fit into the crowd as best as I could, because I wanted to be accepted. Being a little different from everyone else, I was rejected quite a bit, though. I've often had other people turn their back on me. Teased, bullied, harassed... yeah, I've been there.

It was just one thing after another with the bullies... they could always find something to harass me about. My powers made me even weaker (somehow), my quills made me look like a parrot, my voice was too high... I just didn't know how to handle it all. Growing up, my parents protected me from all that. I was fairly sheltered and isolated, being the "special one with powers" in my family. This made me incredibly naive and rather out of touch with the outside world.

But with all this teasing... I guess I became more than a little self-conscious and insecure. Being called girly and gay and other names I don't want to repeat will do that to you. For a while I pretty much doubted my own worth... I felt awful and like I just... didn't belong here. Like I was different from everyone else.

I cared deeply about things no one else seemed to even think about. I used to sit and dream a lot, just thinking of a better world and future, where pain was minimized and everyone lived happily... and I wanted to help create that world and live in it. I was an idealist, a dreamer, I guess you could say. I saw things how they should be, how to improve them, not as they were.

I had this inbred urge in me to save the world. It sounds silly, yeah, but I wanted to be a hero. I certainly didn't feel like one 99% of the time... but that didn't stop me from wanting it and feeling like it was what I should be doing with my life.

And most of all, I was alone. I had friends, sure, but I only had them because being uncomfortable in a crowd was by far much better than being alone. Loneliness was something I desperately wanted to avoid... and that was how I constantly felt, alone in a group of people. But I wasn't happy... I felt like I was made for more than what I was living. I belonged in a different plane of existence than everyone else.

So that was my life: I was teased, lonely, dreaming of a better world, dissatisfied, insecure, naive...

Luckily, I managed to find you... and if I hadn't, I have no idea where I'd be right now. I don't really want to think about it.

When I first saw you, Blaze, you were sitting all alone, in the corner of the classroom. Yes, this was way back before Iblis destroyed everything and we still were forced to go to school. You were all by yourself... and you didn't seem to mind it. In fact, any time someone approached you, you pushed them away, saying that you wanted to be alone.

And this, I could never understand... why would you WANT to be alone? I immediately became captivated by you, and why you thought the way you did.

I tried to find out everything I could about you, Blaze, and although you pushed even me away at first, I just couldn't give up, and so I went to others to find out what they knew. It was from them that I found out that you were a displaced princess, the almost legendary Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, and, most importantly to me, you had powers...

Just like me.

You know how much that simple fact meant to me? I was so used to being different that I didn't think there'd be anyway that I could find someone else who could remotely relate to me. Sure, I'd dreamt about it constantly... meeting someone... _a girl_... who could understand me and that I could team up with to save the world... and I could scarcely believe that I'd actually found you. You were my dream come true.

Could it be that... I had finally found someone who could understand me? Who knew what it was like to be blessed by Sol the way all beings with powers had been?

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that caught my attention - you were amazingly pretty and still are, Blaze... I mean, you have these shiny golden eyes, soft purple fur, pretty pink lips... I was captivated by everything about you.

Your beauty and powers were all I needed to get me hooked and trying and get to know you. Yeah, I guess I had been convinced from the get-go that we were _meant to be_ together. I'm sure you remember those days when I first hung around you... it wasn't easy, because you were so private and kept everyone out of your inner life... you were shy, but it went beyond that. You had these gigantic walls built up around your heart... and I was so curious as to why you'd put them up in the first place. I'm absolutely sure that for awhile, you got annoyed by me... I was just the lost little desperate puppy following you around. I was really clingy... and every time that you glared at me or ignored me or anything, it would kill me on the inside. So I started talking with you, hoping beyond hope that you'd open up, start to smile...

I'll never forget the first time you smiled at me. It was after those darn bullies had started picking on you, and I, somehow, gathered the nerve to tell them off. It's strange, because I'd learned to (try and) ignore them when they bothered me, but when you were their victim... I just couldn't take that. But anyway, after I told them off and they left (probably upset that I wasn't giving in and crying anymore... their power over me had vanished) I saw the most beautiful thing in the world. You turned to me... and a lovely smile turned your lips upward for the very first time. Oh man... my heart skipped around in my chest and beat so loudly when I saw that... your smile was _so pretty_, I can't even begin to describe it. It was beautiful because it was rare - I was sure that I was the only one alive that you'd ever smiled at... and that made me feel ten feet tall. I've never felt so... special, so... loved before. I was enchanted by you, Blaze, and for days afterward, I was in complete daze. I dreamed of that beautiful smile that made me feel so wonderful and had the same effect on my lips...

But those magical moments were few and far between. Still, I was patient. In order to be with you and be your friend, I'd do anything, including wait. Because, naively, and innocently, I just knew that you were made for me. I don't know if it was a crush, or if I was just curious, or what... but I felt some sort of connection to you. Heck, it was probably the former, I won't lie...

And then, slowly but surely, you started opening up to me. You still haven't told me why you changed your mind and accepted me instead of everyone else... but I don't think you have any idea how happy you made me, just by giving me a friend. Even one is distant as you, I still felt closer to you than I'd felt to any of my "friends" before.

I'd have to say, it was after Iblis launched his attacks and counterattacks that we became so close... fighting side by side with someone will have that bonding effect on anyone. While part of me was (and still is) weary of fighting an immortal, unbeatable being, part of me is happy that something good could come out of it: me and you, Blaze. Us.

We'd teamed up, become the duo practically destined to save the world. With you, I felt like I found my place in the world, my destiny.

You became my best friend. The one I could count on, that I could turn to, that I could lean on... you meant everything to me, Blaze... and you still do.

You became my stability. Whenever my emotions got the best of me, I know that I could always go to you, as nothing ever seemed to affect you, and you always kept a level head. Sometimes I wondered whether you actually felt any emotions at all, because I envied how you managed to hide them... but then there were those few times, when you'd look at me with just a hint of tenderness in your eyes and smile... and my heart would do flip flops, because I know that your beautiful smile was reserved just for me.

You made me feel important, like I was worth something. Like I was doing something right, and what I should be doing. I always wanted to save the world, and you were my partner in the fight for justice.

Without you, I just feel so lost... and alone and insecure and useless. Without you, I feel like I'm nothing, just wandering around without a purpose.

And even though we've known each other for years, Blaze... I'm still finding out more stuff about you. Every day you manage to surprise me, by revealing just a little more of your heart.

I don't know when I realized that I loved you as more than a friend,like in a romantic way. I guess I always suspected or at least dreamed that I'd end up marrying you or something... but part of me absolutely knew my place. There was no way that you would ever love me in return; you were the princess, someone important, something that I wasn't. So I kept my mouth shut and kept those feelings bottled up, because... well, we have a special friendship, and I was terribly afraid of ruining it because I felt too much and wanted more than just friendship with you. I knew that you were reserved, and so I didn't want to push you.

Still, what I felt for you... I just had to get it out of my heart.

I remember confessing to you my true feelings (it took me _years_ to work up the nerve), and how I was shaking in my boots, terrified that you'd turn me down and say you'd never thought of me like and you just wanted to be friends, and then we'd be all awkward and our friendship would be ruined...

But then... just like I'd hoped, you took my face in your hands, in a gesture more tender than any I'd seen from you... and said that you felt the same way, but just didn't know how to show it... you'd often felt different around me, and that your heart would beat wildly, but that you didn't know what it meant, let alone how to tell me, so you secretly locked it in your heart, almost afraid of those feelings... and it wasn't until I confessed that you were able to see that what you felt for me transcended even our deep friendship.

I just couldn't believe it at first - that someone like you could love someone like me. I didn't think anyone could love me, let alone someone as perfect and beautiful as you... I mean, you were the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, the princess... and I was just some lonely, lost, naive little kid. It was almost too much, that you could love me like this... I felt like I didn't deserve it, that I had gotten too lucky...

But no, as I look into your gorgeous golden eyes, even today, I still see nothing but pure love shining in them. Love for me.

So Blaze, I just had to tell you how much you mean to me... you've just done so much and helped me out more than you even know. And I've never been happier, now that I've found exactly where I'm meant to be - here, with you, in your arms, loving you and saving the world with you. Thanks Blaze, for everything.

I love you.


	2. Blaze

cookythefoxcat, Venenum Timere, Writer's Freedom, holospartoi258, bk00, OddSakura, Kira-writer, Jonman14, Rafael Pereira, poka, AutoKnight01, JackleTheKitsune, SkulY2K, BlazexSilver:

Chapter 2: Blaze

I was alone.

That's what I remember of my life before I met you, Silver. I was born into a royal family, as a princess none-the-less, and then subsequently kicked out because I was born with some genetic mutation that gave me the ability to control fire. In blood I was still a princess, but for all practical purposes I was disowned and left to live and survive on my own. I was ten years old when I was handed the keys to the kingdom, the seven jewels that could control time and space, known as the Sol Emeralds, and was told that I was the new Guardian. It would henceforth be my duty to protect those gems at all costs, including sacrificing my own life. I was also to live alone, trusting no one for fear that they'd be just after the Emeralds.

Not that I had been wanting any friends; I'd been rejected and alienated since the day I was born. I was a freak, and no one wanted to be my friend or talk to me. There was no one who even thought about me, even less loved me or cared about me. I had no one that I could trust or that I would even want to be with. No one to talk to or share time with. I practically loathed others - they annoyed me, got in my way, didn't understand me. Others hurt me more than they helped. Being in social situations was more than awkward, it was painful. I had nothing to say to anyone. My life was that of a guardian... what could I possibly have in common with the giggly girls and immature boys my own age?

Being perpetually alone, I became shy with others, but it went beyond that. I never approached anyone - and if they approached me, I would just ignore them. Others couldn't attempt to understand me... so what was the point of trying to get to know anyone? I was so much different than everyone else. They couldn't relate to me. It was painful talking to others; they wanted to discuss such trivial things, things I didn't care one whisker about. The more I observed others, the more I despised them and wanted no part of their trivial life.

I was almost glad that I had been born different and destined to a life of loneliness. I wanted no part with anyone else. I'd come to not only accept my loneliness but embrace it and want it. I just stopped believing and hoping that I'd ever have a friend. It didn't matter if I felt lonely, I accepted the reality of what my life would be and how my future was already set out for me. I was destined to be alone.

And I never thought that it'd be any different. I thought that I'd have to be completely self-sufficient for the rest of my life, not depending on anyone else. It never even crossed my mind that there'd be someone out there who could complete me and be my other half. That sounded so far-fetched, so foolish... I never thought that I'd ever find a man...

I felt like an unsung hero, almost. I knew that without me, the world would be worse off, with no one to watch over the Sol Emeralds. I was aware of my own importance. So that's why I saved the world - not because I cared deeply about everyone to the point that I was giving myself selflessly as a true hero would, but because it was who I am.

Yes, there was a void in my heart. But I just ignored the pain, come to accept it as my fate. Emotions were... nothing. My heart had become so hardened and numb from isolation that I scarcely felt anything anymore... my heart was a hollow, empty muscle. Practically the only thing I regularly felt was anger, but only when I was provoked enough or someone looked at the Sol Emeralds.

I did feel the need to do my duty, however. That was what my life was: a solitary, lonely, unemotional realist, an unsung hero, a freak. And I liked it that way. I wasn't happy but I'd come to accept it; I was content. I wasn't seeking a better life.

I was born this way, with powers and a duty to fulfill no matter what.

My heart was hardened. I pushed everyone who even wanted to get close to me.

Even... you. I do regret how mean I was to you, Silver, at first.

I remember how you approached me, and instead of calling me a fire freak or ask me a ton of questions of what it was like to be a princess, you... were just so innocent. You talked about, of all things,... teaming up with me to save the world. You talked about your dreams, your thoughts, and how you wanted to be a hero. Although I initially dismissed you as just a naive little kid (It's funny, you're only a year younger than me) who would soon realize that life is not lived up in the clouds and being a hero is not all that it's portrayed as... you stuck in my heart and mind.

I pushed you away and ignored you, of course, but you kept at it, and wouldn't give up. You were so convinced that we were meant to be together that you wouldn't be deterred. And as you tagged along behind me and tried your hardest to penetrate my impregnable walls... I found that I just couldn't get you out of my head. You were all that I thought about for a while, and I had trouble sleeping, because I couldn't shake your hopeful golden eyes from my vision...

You were so... refreshing, so different from everyone else I've known. So innocent. It was almost like the original stain hadn't touched your soul. No matter how everyone treated you and what life served you, you remained just as naive and full of hope as ever.

I became captivated by you. I never showed it, of course, but you were always in my mind. I can't say that I was immediately head over heels for you, but you certainly caught my attention. I wondered how it was the world didn't seem to affect you, even though you had powers as well. Of course, yours seemed more productive and useful than mine, but still. You gave me a sliver of hope that maybe... my life wouldn't be as grim as I'd always imagined it to be. Maybe, just maybe I could actually be happy...

Eventually, I opened up my heart more and more to you. I took it slow, although you were anxious to learn more about me, but I just wasn't comfortable sharing myself. I'd never been good at talking with others... I let you do most of the talking. I always thought that being with others was painful... but with you it was...nice and easy, almost natural.

I just never knew how much I was really craving contact from someone else. I discovered that beneath my hardened outer shell, a heart that needed love was beating just like everyone else's. You helped me find my heart and soul, Silver. You brought my heart to life. All of a sudden I was alive.

You gave me hope, if nothing else. Your naive spirit refreshed me and breathed new life into my jaded heart. And I started wanting another person's company for the first time in my life. Whenever you weren't around... I actually longed for you.

I remember one day... this was after Iblis attacked, and we were living and sleeping wherever we could find a place. But on that one day, I woke up after a decent night's sleep, and... I couldn't find you. Normally we slept right next to each other (for safety's sake), but I looked over and you were gone. Of course, I wasn't too worried... until I looked everywhere for you. With every subsequent place that I'd searched and came up empty, the more my heart ached and worried. I was so afraid that I'd lost you, my first and only friend. Of course, the cliche "you don't know what you have until it's gone" rung true for me then. It was then, when the first and only tears I'd ever cried in my life cascaded down my cheeks that I realized how much you really meant to me. My future life without you flashed before my eyes, and I was afraid I was going back to square one and a life of loneliness. That prospect, which had before had made me content, now scared me more than I'm willing to admit. Of course, as soon as I found you, it was all I could do not to wrap you in a tight hug. I could barely control my emotions...

That's another thing, Silver, something only you can do to me... these weird feelings stirring around in my chest. I'd never felt like this before... my heart felt free and light and happy for the first time. Slowly it began to soften, and I began to feel things I've never felt before. I would just think about you and smile involuntarily. My heart would beat so fast, when you'd just look at me. And also, blushing. I was used to feeling heat on my body, but this was a warmness unlike anything. It felt so _pleasant_, I never thought emotions could feel so good. I started to wonder if something was wrong with me...

But not only all that - I had found a friend, the best one I'd ever had and the only one I'd thought that I'd need. I had no idea how much I was craving that - company. I had been so lonely my whole life, and being able to share my burdensome life with someone... it just took such a weight off of my shoulders and heart. I ended up telling you things that I'd always kept bottled up, things that I could barely admit to myself. And the best thing was, you completely understood me and listened to everything I said, and didn't push me into anything. You were really my best friend, Silver... I was so glad that you had approached me and didn't give up on me...

You meant so much to me, Silver. But telling you? Now that was simply... impossible. I've never been good at sharing my feelings as it was. I've never been talkative. Being so isolated from everyone else, I was terribly shy especially in social/emotional situations. Besides, how could I tell you something that I didn't understand myself? I figured that my prescence and blushes would be enough to let you know how I felt, that you'd figure it out yourself.

I prefer to think about things fully before I do anything.

And, of course, I remember how you confessed that you loved me as more than a friend... you were trembling and blushing up a storm and you couldn't look me in the eye, obviously scared of what I was gonna say. I knew how hard it was for you to confess that you wanted to be more than friends... I knew because I hadn't wanted to bring up the topic, either. Talking about feelings, especially my own, was not something that had ever come easy to me. And also, I didn't want to ruin our friendship by making it complicated and suddenly awkward.

And so, for a few moments, I questioned how I really felt and if I wanted to go that last romantic step. But then I remembered how you made me feel like no one else has, and how much you've given me. And I realized, Silver... that I really did love you. If love really existed and was possible for me, then what we shared had to be real love...

And then, I took your face in my hands and guided it so that you could look into my eyes and see how I really felt, even though I was a master at hiding my emotions. I let the mask come off of my heart. And then I did what has always been difficult for me to do, uncomfortable and unnatural - spoke from my heart and reassured you of how I really felt.

As I was talking and confessing I felt the walls crash down from my heart. And for once, it was actually easy to tell you how I felt. I told you how you'd softened my heart and got me to feel for the first time in my life. I told you how you'd cured my loneliness and given me hope. And then... I pulled you into my lips, and we shared our first kiss. It was an emotional release if I'd ever had one, just feeling you in my arms and your lips clinging to mine... I could feel your passion in that kiss, with you aggressively kissing my mouth as if you'd wanted to to do that for a long time... being able to be free to love you... it felt so wonderful, like nothing else.

And even though I've told you many times, Silver... I want to tell you again. You mean so much to me... I've let no one else get as close to my heart as you are. You're a special friend and so much more. I'm so glad that I decided to open up and let you complete me, I've never regretted it... I love you, Silver.


End file.
